Originally Posted by Crabbiedad
I can't speak for all Crabs teams but I can tell you the majority of 2019
and 2020 teams are not hold backs. The 2020 team has 23 kids and 5 are hold backs. 3 are impact players. The majority of MD families don't believe in holding back but it's a decision that the parents and kids make. Crabs doesn't encourage or push this. It's been going on through the MD private schools in all sports for years. All high level AA club teams in Maryland have hold backs..FCA, Loonies, Breakers, Hawks, etc. Is it an advantage for some..sure, but good athletes rise too the type despite age. It all equals out in high school. If your not fast at 13..your not going to be much faster by 16. My son has played for Crabs for 2 years as a non hold back and it's been a great experience. They are an extremely organized and professional club that provides excellent coaching to increase lax IQ and teach the boys to master the fundamentals through a proven system. Their are many wonderful and dedicated people associated with Crabs as I'm sure there are with Team 91, Rising Sons, Edge, LI Express, NH Tomahawks, etc. We love playing LI teams and others because they are incredible young lax players that are battle tested. And remember Crabs players compete in football, soccer, basketball, and wrestling as well. We are not a year round, no other sport kind of club and we like it that way. We don't believe that 12 and 13 year olds should specialize. Not a knock on Team 91 but it's a different philosophy. So maybe a couple hold backs actually levels the playing field considering some LI teams have considerably more practice and competitive time. At the end of the day you should visit the Crabs website and scroll to college commits. Those are real top d1 schools, giving real lax scholarships to many Crabs athletes. Do you really think college coaches care if you are 18 or 19 when you graduate. The proof is in the pudding. If your son is a strong laxer he would enjoy playing for Crabs...hold back or not. They are a great Club.

how many of those d1 lacrosse players started somewhere else and got their fundamentals from other coaches, they do a good job of recruiting players, sometimes on the field right after a game. the list of players that are on the crabs site, i'm sure appear on other web sites as they should if you are trying to market yourself, to come out with low numbers of kids being held back is absurd the numbers are definitely not the two or three everyone in blue and gold proclaim it to be nor are they the 12 or 13 that everyone outside claims also. the number would be somewhere in the middle. the holdbacks are not the issue, changing seeds twice in the middle of your own tournament, loading up a youth team with older players to win a tournament at the beach and then trying to proclaim them as future holdbacks is just blatantly cheating. if they had tryouts and took them to a fall tournament then so be it, what they did was wrong. those kids were on a different team the day before, it's plain and simple wrong..the justification for it is why many people will not agree with your assessment that they are a "great club" I mentioned fundamentals, when you are in a tough spot you rely on your fundamentals to get through, youth and high school summer lacrosse have unfortunately become a business and the crabs like every other club have to keep up. things are tough and you can see the fundamentals the crab leadership is relying on and i certainly know my sons are aware of ways to avoid rules and regulations but do not think it is right to have them follow those examples, one sons plays d3 football, one will play d3, d2 or d1 lacrosse and one will play major d1 lacrosse and they have and will earn it the right way....will buy the good accumalation of talent, not buying the "great club" speech